Tourists travelling to the west coast of the US have been warned to guard against aggressively hot temperatures, with much of California, Nevada and up into Oregon currently witnessing hot weather as much as 20 degrees above normal temperatures for this time of year.
The heatwave – which is set to get as high as the low 50s in some places – is covering much of California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington State and Oregon – basically the length of the US West Coast and a good bit inland also.
This week has already seen Las Vegas, in Nevada, hit record temperatures of 49 degrees, while Death Valley National Park – in California – reached as high as 53.3 degrees.
“We encourage visitors to choose their activities carefully, avoiding prolonged periods of time outside of an air-conditioned vehicle or building when temperatures are this high,” the local police said, after a motorcyclist died from heat exhaustion near Death Valley, which is a huge tourist attraction.
The US met office, or National Weather Service (NWS), has warned that the excessive heat warning covers a land population of around 36 million people.
“We’ve got a real expansive and extreme heatwave ongoing, and it’s expected to continue this week,” it warned.
